


You Owe Me

by Writer4Christ



Category: Underground (TV)
Genre: 1860s, F/M, Family, Plantation, Post-Civil War, Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-09
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-08-20 10:55:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8246380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writer4Christ/pseuds/Writer4Christ
Summary: Suzanna is on her death bed and James wants answers about a missing part of his life.





	

June 9, 1866- Macon, Georgia

 

James Macon was a free man. He could live his life off the Macon plantation. He could do whatever he wanted and he would not have to answer to anyone. He was his own man. 

So why did he stay behind? Why didn’t he have enough courage to step off the plantation? Why was he afraid for his future when the world was at his fingertips?

It was because of Suzanna Macon.

James was afforded the finer things in his life due to the influence of Suzanna. She brought him into the house at the age of 7 and began to keep him by her side. She doted on him like he was her son. As he grew up, he quickly realized that Suzanna held him in higher esteem than TR, Mary and Samuel. He was her prized apple.

Yet, he hated it. He hated Suzanna. He hated the Macon name. He hated everything around him that reminded him of the trauma of his childhood.

His mother, Ernestine, went missing shortly after Tom Macon died. In his young mind, he rationalized why his mother would leave him. He thought she went to meet Sam in the big city. She was helping him with his furniture business. They were making money so they could get away from the plantation. They were saving up so they could live in peace. She would come back to him once she settled down. It wasn’t until the age of 10 that he realized the truth. Sam was dead and Ernestine had been sold.

The truth was a hard pill to swallow.

He foolishly asked Suzanna about Ernestine’s whereabouts one day and she yelled obscenities at him and told him Ernestine abandoned him. Furthermore, just to twist the knife even deeper, Suzanna “accidentally” let it slip that Tom Macon was his father and he was the one responsible for Sam’s untimely departure from this world.

After that incident, he remained quiet letting his hatred fester. He spent the next nine years under Suzanna’s thumb. Now after nine long and painful years death was about to claim its prize.

James stood in the hallway right outside her bedroom door hearing the soft voices of TR and Mary. The cracked door opened wider revealing TR’s figure.

“James, she’s asking for you,” TR said coming out of her room. His brother had tears in his eyes but James only felt a twinge of sympathy.

He and TR only grew further apart as time went on but there were days when James longed to go back to the innocence of their youth. He sighed suppressing such sentiments and mentally preparing himself to enter the lion’s den.

He slowly walked into the room allowing his gaze to settle on Mary first and then her husband, Jeremiah. Mary never truly cared for him as he grew older and she made it known he was only good for his labor. She never acknowledged that he and Rosalee were her siblings. However, in a twist of fate, Jeremiah actually helped him survive this family. He realized that his brother-in-law perhaps got more than what he bargained for by aligning himself with the Macons.

“Mary,” James called out to her. She looked up with red, puffy, and skeptical eyes questioning who would let him into the room. “TR said Ms. Suzanna called for me.”

There was a slight roll of the eyes as if he was doing some horrific thing.

“Yes, she did,” Mary said.

They left him alone with her and he shut the door. As he walked closer to her bed, his eyes traveled up and down her frail body and he nearly smiled. The woman was dying and he felt relief.

He would have to ask for repentance later. 

“Who’s there?” Suzanna asked weakly.

“It’s James,” he answered softly.

He noticed a smile forming on her lips and she reached out her hand for him to hold. He remained unmoved by the supposedly warm gesture.

“James…please come sit,” she begged. “There’s something I want to tell you.”

A glimmer of hope rose within him. He could feel his heart starting to beat wildly in his chest. Was she finally going to tell him about Ernestine’s whereabouts? He sat down in the chair Mary occupied.

Suzanna sat up in the bed with his help. She looked at him with care but James saw something underneath. A look of belittlement. “I need you to take care of Samuel. He’s my baby and he needs a strong guiding hand. Mary is too busy with building her life and TR has the plantation to run. Samuel is by himself. He just a little boy.”

In a twinkling of an eye his hope diminished. 

Although James did care for the boy and in his head he knew they were family, he did not feel like being the older brother. He just wanted to be reunited with his true family.

“With all due respect, Mary and TR aren’t going to leave Samuel in my care. I have no guardianship,” he protested. “I have no way of taking care of him.”

Suzanna waved her hand in a dismissive manner. “I don’t care what they think is best. You will take Samuel under your wings just like Sam did for you.”

James bristled at the mention of his brother and it coming from her sounded like poison dripping from her tongue.

“James, you owe me this. I took you in when Ernestine abandoned you. I loved you like you were my own. You will do what you’re told,” she said.

It amazed him how the strength came back in her body when she was being hateful.

“Pardon but in case you have forgotten, I am not your slave anymore. And you owe me,” he said his voice hardening with every word.

“Excuse me. James-

“You had my mother sold because your own children couldn’t stand to be around you. They preferred my mother’s love and warmth over your callous indifference. It wasn’t my mother’s fault that she raised your kids when all you did was hand them to her. It wasn’t her fault my father preferred her over you. You made your bed and you want us to lay in it with you,” he continued hovering over her body with steeled eyes.

“I hate you and I hope TR and Mary run your precious Macon name into the ground. I hope that all your fantasies of Macon restoration crash even further,” he said. He paused allowing a mischievous glint to shine through. “On second thought, I will take Samuel under my wings. He needs to know what kind of woman you really were. I will bestow my graciousness and kindness onto him like you did to me. However, I will do this on my terms. You need to only answer one question.”

Her eyes filled with disgust and James nearly smirked at the small victory of putting Suzanna in her place. 

“What? What ridiculous question do you need me to answer?” she asked.

He took her by the arms tightening his grip to signal that he was serious.

“Where is my mother?”


End file.
